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Julian Copes musical career stretches from the late 1970s (Teardrop Explodes) through the eighties and 1990s as a solo artist, and finally with Brain Donor. He is also an author, and guitar collector.
One of his most unusual guitars is a Gibson Firebird / Thunderbird doubleneck, that he calls The Beast.
GibsonBass The Beast is an amazing looking guitar - was it a custom order by Gibson?
Julian Cope The guitar was made by Valdez in Los Angeles in 1971, from a 1967 non reverse Thunderbird IV and a 1968 non reverse Firebird. Valdez screwed with the pick-ups, including replacing the bridge pick-up with a PAF (guitar scholars tell me that at that time it was probably a purely pragmatic decision). Valdez has a great reputation at Black Market Music, on Sunset Boulevard.
GibsonBass ...and how did you come across it?
Julian Cope I bought it in 1990 from Musical Exchanges on Snow Hill, in Birmingham. for £800. As I'd always bought shedloads of weird gear from them when I lived in Tamworth, they used to send me consignments of stuff down to London, and I could take my time deciding which was useful. When eight guitars arrived at the Who's old Ramport Studio (subsequently becoming Virgin's Townhouse 3), nobody paid any attention to anything but the beast.
Go to part 2 | Check out Julian's own website Head Heritage
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